The game looks great, and I'm glad they include the option of the classic Spidey-suit right off the bat. I can appreciate wanting to put their own stamp on the Spider-Man franchise with their own unique look, but to me it looks like they tried to combine the white bits of the Black Costume with the Ben Reily costume.

The game looks great, and I'm glad they include the option of the classic Spidey-suit right off the bat. I can appreciate wanting to put their own stamp on the Spider-Man franchise with their own unique look, but to me it looks like they tried to combine the white bits of the Black Costume with the Ben Reily costume.

After playing with the different costumes for a bit, the white spider look is my very favorite in the game. And the game has ALL the costumes except the symbiote (which the devs talk about with such love that I expect to see a symbiote-focused sequel). It's striking as hell. Makes it just a little more vibrant. I might go so far as to say that it's the best Spider-Man costume ever. Though the classic one is the best "base" from which to deviate.

So I've been having a "movie" version of the game playing as background noise while I work, and I've got to say, this thing is very well done. I can't speak to the gameplay aspect (which looks great save for the occasional "human sidekick stealth missions"), but the story is engaging, the voice acting is solid, and aside from a few hiccups, it feels like a well done adaptation of the Spider-Man mythos to game form.

The game is worth the price of admission for the Spider-Cop stuff alone.

One aspect of the game that is admitted a disappointment for me in some respects is Mary Jane. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad that MJ is in the game and I'm completely in the same boat as Stan Lee's cameo in the game when he says "You two were always my favorite couple". But some of the things they do with with MJ just comes off as . . . wrong.

Spoiler Warning for anyone who hasn't played the game.

So the first time you encounter MJ, you find a camera where Spidey goes "Is that-", followed by MJ showing up. My brain immediately went "Is that her camera? Did they turn MJ into Lois Lane?"

*cue flashback of MJ trying to get a story for the Bugle*

Me: "Oh crap, they turned MJ into Lois Lane."

Now, that's something they'd done in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon (a series I didn't really care for), but it's just . . . why? Why turn MJ into Lois Lane, primarily so you can have a few human level stealth missions? Because the primary draw of playing Spider-Man is . . . you know, BEING SPIDER-MAN. I wouldn't really look forward to playing Lois Lane and sneaking around in a Superman game.

More than that, MJ just comes off as very . . . entitled, several times in the game. Apparently she originally broke up with Peter because he tried to keep her out of dangerous situations because . . . wait for it . . . a completely normal, untrained human getting into Spider-Man level scenarios is likely to DIE. Seriously, the game has a point where a martial arts master (who is skilled enough to take down multiple armed muggers and even impresses Spidey) dresses up like Spidey and tries to do superhero work, only to almost get killed by guys with guns. The Fake Spidey decides that he isn't quite up to this, and gives up dressing like Spidey in favor of more productive ways of helping the community.

Because unless you're willing to invest time and resources into becoming Batman, Nightwing, Hawkeye or Shang Chi, a normal human getting into superhero stuff is suicide.

But MJ basically complains that it's not fair that Peter tries to keep her out of suicidally dangerous situations and how Peter swooping in to save her undermines their partnership/relationship. And then proceeds to get herself into a situation that requires her to throw herself out a building and require Peter to save her.

It reminds me of how Iris West on the CW Flash series frequently talks about how "We're the Flash", commenting about both herself and Barry. YEAH no, Iris. Barry is the Flash. Not to undermine your contribution to team Flash, but unless you're in the red suit and fighting crime, whatever you are, you aren't the Flash.

Now, to the games credit, MJ DOES come around later and apologize to Peter about her attitude earlier, and says basically that she just wanted to save the day too. Peter then apologizes to her by saying "I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't". I just . . . I appreciate the sentiment and Peter being the bigger man and nicer guy, but it really made MJ come off as annoying to me. Basically "I'm breaking up with you because it's not fair that I can't save the day too, just because I don't have powers or training and constantly need rescuing".

Which is a shame, because like I said, I like MJ and when she's not being kind of a hypocrite she's pretty entertaining, but I just question turning her into Lois Lane for the sake of some stealth missions that take you completely out of being Spider-Man.